


we'll make great pets

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Coulson has a trick robot hand, Cultural Differences, Discrimination, F/M, First Kiss, Flirting, Friendship/Love, Gen, Inhumans (Marvel), Kind of plotty?, Nah who am I kidding?, Skye being badass SJW, Skye is a natural leader, Strategy & Tactics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 11:52:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4390835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DAY 2 · 21 July - compromised</p><p>Skye tries to build trust between SHIELD and the Inhumans and finds she compromised by her Phil habit.  Title from Porno for Pyro's "Pets".</p>
            </blockquote>





	we'll make great pets

“He called him my _pet_.”

After watching Skye’s face twist in outrage, Fitz chimed in helpfully.

“Maybe, he-he meant, as in ‘fond of’?” he said, glancing at each of them in turn.

They all glared back at him.

“No?” he muttered. “That’s…that not what he meant. Probably.”

He turned his back to them to avoid their eyes.

“It’s because he spoke out of turn,” Lincoln offered.

“Is that what you think of humans?” she said to Lincoln, disgusted.  "That they're on the low rung of the evolutionary ladder?"

“I don't have time for Inhuman Culture 101," he answered. "Let's just say it’s compounded by your back door Terregenesis-“

“I didn’t even want this, “she interrupted, raising her voice again. “You _know_ that.”

“I don’t think he cares about that,” Coulson chimed in.

Lincoln glanced over at him for a moment, curious as to why he’d remained so quiet up until this point.

He had a nasty cut above his eyebrow, after one of the guards had taken a swipe at him.

This was about him, after all.

“Look,” Lincoln said, slowly, lifting his hands in a surrendering gesture. “There was a power vacuum when Jiaying-“

He stopped on the word as Skye shrank back.

“This is my fault,” she said, wrapping her hand around her arm.

Coulson shot Lincoln a warning look. “That’s not what he’s saying.”

“How do _you_ know what I’m saying?” Lincoln said defensively, taking a step forward. “If she hadn’t brought _you_ -“

“Can we just focus?!” Fitz said, raising up his hands between them in a time-out gesture. “I think we all agree he’s a bad guy, right?”

They all looked over at Lincoln.

“Wanting to kill people just because they’re weaker, is bad,” Fitz finished.

“Yes!” Lincoln answered. “I told you that!” he said, staring her down.

Skye shook her head, confused.

“All those encrypted reports I sent you?!” he continued, annoyed. "On the secure channel you provided?"

“What reports?” Coulson asked. “ _Skye_.”

“I never got them,” she said, crossing her arms and throwing Coulson a stare. “Or you would know about it.” She swiveled towards Lincoln. “Are you telling me-“

Lincoln looked up at the ceiling in the small room where they were being held, putting hands on his head, defeated, and started pacing.

“They must have been intercepted,” he sighed.

“By who?” Coulson asked.

“ _Lash_ ,” Lincoln answered. “Who else?”

“Talk about someone who sounds like a pet,” Skye muttered.

“Or someone else,” Coulson said. “Someone who doesn’t want you talking to people on the outside.”

“You’re not getting it,” Lincoln said. “This whole thing was a-“

“Trap,” Coulson finished. “Yes. And you led us right into it.”

“I didn’t lead _you_ into anything, “ he said. “And if she hadn’t brought you, we could have-“

“No,” Coulson said, his eyes on Skye. “He wanted her.  All along.  To test her. Because of who she is.”

“I was just trying to help.”

“Were you?” Skye shot back.

“I believe him,” Coulson said, cutting it short. “But right now, we have to figure a way out of here.”

Lincoln shook his head.

“Unless there are other people here that we can rely on?” Coulson asked him.

He didn’t look very optimistic.

“How do his powers work?” Skye asked pointedly.

“He takes whatever you have, and throws it back at you.”

"Refraction," she started, ticking off on her fingers. "Absorption, transmutation, what?"

"Conversion," Lincoln said.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Fitz said, bouncing on his heels. “Daniels!” he pointed to Coulson. “Marcus Daniels!”

“Too much power, and it shuts him down?” Coulson said back to him, as Fitz nodded.

“Wait a minute,” Skye said, her eyes getting wide. “Sif said I could tear continents apart, Coulson.”

“Who’s Sif?” Lincoln asked, glancing between them, with his hands on his hips.

“Asgardian. Way out of your league,” Fitz said, with a tilt of his head.

Lincoln rolled his eyes in silence.

“Skye,” Coulson said, turning his back to them, trying to get some privacy for a moment. “You can do this.”

“What if I bring it all down on top of us?  The last time I went up against someone that powerful-“

“I know,” he said, his hands reaching for her arms.  She was thinking about Jiaying again. “But we’re here, and I know you won’t let that happen.”

“What if _he_ does?” she asked, her voice shaking. “Using _my_ powers?”

“You’ll sense it, won’t you?”

“I’ve never tried to do two things at once,” she said, her eyes fluttering. “I don’t want to lose-“

“Hi,” Lincoln said, stepping next to them with a wave of his fingers. “Still here.  Can we talk about this as a group, or should Fitz and I get a room?”

“Um,” Fitz said. “Lincoln’s powers, too, then?  Right?”

“When he doesn’t expect it,” Coulson said, nodding, letting Skye go. “Fitz and I will cover you.”

“They’ll kill you,” Lincoln sighed. “This is _not_ a good plan.”

“We’re resourceful,” he said, looking slyly over at Fitz. “They already tried to kill us once.”

“Especially since you’re going to tell us how everyone’s powers work,” Fitz said, crossing his arms.

“I’m not going to do that,” Lincoln said, with a dry laugh.

“It’s time to pick a side,” Skye said to him.

 

#

 

“You used me,” Lincoln said, glaring back at Lash in the Inhumans’ council chamber.

“And you betrayed your own kind,” Lash replied, his eyes glowing red in the dim-lit room. “The ancient ways must be observed.”

“These people didn’t choose this!” Lincoln said back to him. “They were exposed to Terrigenesis without their own free will.”

“Evolution,” Lash said, leaning towards him from his chair. “And only the strongest shall survive.  If are meant to take our place and rule the Earth.”

“That’s not our way,” Lincoln said, turning to his audience. “We’ve survived for centuries, we’ve lived in peace, hidden.”

“And now we’ve been exposed, because of abominations like her,” Lash said, pointing towards Skye.  “They brought SHIELD to our door, and killed one of our elders.”

“Sounds just like HYDRA,” Coulson said, leaning over to Skye.

“Silence the pet!” Lash said, standing from his chair.

“Why don’t you silence me, first,” Skye said, stepping forward. “I’ve fought people like you before.  And they always lose.  I don’t care if you’re Inhuman.  I’m not letting you walk away from this.”

People in the room began to whisper.

“You’re Jiaying’s daughter,” he said, stepping down past the barrier between the council to the floor. “She paid the price for rejecting her destiny, and dragged her people along with her.”

He came into the light at the center of the room so that everyone could see him.

“Tell me…how did it feel to kill your own mother?”

The room stirred again, full of whispers and sharp words.

“I don’t know,” Skye answered. “I was too busy trying to _save lives_.  And if this is what you stand for?  I don’t want to be Inhuman.”

The crowd around them surged towards her, surrounding her in anger as Coulson tried to push his way forward.

“ _Skye!_ ”

Fitz held him back as best he could, as they saw colors and flashes and fists from the crowd around her.

“Fitz, let me go,” he said desperation in his voice, face twisted in agony, as Lincoln pushed into the crowd.

“Not yet,” Fitz said.  “Remember the plan.  She can handle it.”

Then a bright burst of electricity shot up towards the ceiling, traveling along it until it dissipated at the edges of the ceiling.

“Enough,” Lincoln said, as the crowd backed away.

Skye was standing in the center of it, wiping at a bloody lip, getting her footing back, holding onto her arm.

“You like traditions?” Lincoln said, walking up to Lash, then pointing his hand back at her, staring the man down.  “Then stop with your mock trial, and do what you planned all along.”

“Very well,” he said, throwing off the robe over his shoulders.

The crowd settled back against the walls of the circular room, like they were part of a ritual.

“Are you worthy?” he asked Skye.

“No,” she said, raising her hand at him and motioning.

“But I’m better than you.”

 

#

 

“That whole thing,” Fitz said, sitting on the couch with Lincoln. “Classic Star Wars, right?”

“Kind of,” Lincoln said, raising his hands as Fitz jerked away.

“Lightning coursing through his body…”

He watched Fitz’s face fall.

“You mean when you choked Lash with Coulson’s robot hand?” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“Yes,” Fitz answered, knocking his beer against Lincoln’s.  “Tipped the odds, I think.”

“Uh, is Skye going to be okay?” he asked, changing the subject, looking up at Skye sitting on the desk, as Coulson patched her up.

Nevermind that he was an actual doctor.

“Skye?” Fitz shrugged. “Yeah.  She’s out of your league, too.”

“Thanks,” Lincoln said, taking a swig of his beer.  “What’s the deal with her and Coulson?”

“Wha-,” Fitz said, taking a drink.

“Their…thing?”

“We don’t really talk about that.”

 

Lincoln laughed. “I’ve seen it up close and…it's definitely something.”

“She’s special,” Fitz said. “That doesn’t mean-“

“Look at them,” Lincoln said. “The way they stare into each other’s eyes?”

“Yeah,” Fitz said, staring at them staring into each other’s eyes. “Dunno.”

“Guess so,” he replied, putting the empty beer down, and picking another up.

“Hey, slow down,” Fitz said. “We won, okay?”

Lincoln looked over at him. “I used my powers, and I can and will drink you under the table right now.”

“Probably,” Fitz said, scooting back against the couch.

“Oh, look, they’re headed outside,” Lincoln said.  “We all know what that means...”

“What?”

“More beer for us,” he grinned.

 

#

 

"Thank you," he said to her.

"For what?" she asked, amused, raising her eyebrows.

"For staying."

Two weeks had passed and Skye had returned from the Inhumans' encampment, with Lincoln in tow.

“It changed _everything,_ " she said.  "Me taking out Lash."

"Who is now safely located in a containment facility in our CATERPILLAR base," he said, opening the file for her in Fury's Black Box.

She came to stand next to him and half-leaned on the edge of the desk and looked at the video display.

“I’m glad you were there,” she said, stopping and turning towards him.

“I’ll always be here.”

She sighed.  

"You'll make great pets," she said, looking into his eyes with a very straight expression.

"Funny," he said, with a very obvious smirk. "That's what Gonzales said about you."

Skye laughed ducked her head in embarrassment, then nudged his shoulder with hers.

"Really?" she asked, trying to picture his reaction.

“Lincoln,” Coulson said, very deliberately changing the subject. “Seems like someone we can trust.”

 “You know what they wanted,” she threw back, not letting him get away.

“For you to stay,” he admitted, nodding to himself.

Then, he shut off the Black Box, and rested his fingers on her arm.

“Skye," he breathed. "You can always change your mind.  I know that what your mother began is important to you."

“Yes,” she said, tilting her face to look down at her hands. "But,  I’m not my mother.”

She pushed her bangs away from her eyes as she met his again. "Do you think I did the right thing?"

He looked caught. She had seen this face before.

When she had asked him a question, what seemed like ages ago back at the Retreat. 

“SHIELD needs you,” he said. “I-“

“You need _me_ to do _this_ ,” she finished. “I know.”

“ _Skye_ ,” he answered. "It's so much more than that."

" _Tell me_."

He decided to show her instead.


End file.
